New York Times, Tuesday, February 7, 2017

The seed for this was the discovery that RUPAULSDRAGRACE was a grid-spanning 15 (hat tip to my fellow 20-something constructor/frequent board game buddy Natan Last). I was aiming to write an early-week puzzle, and the QUEEN(S) connection elucidated itself quickly and seemed like an apt way to approach an easyish theme.

Because ROCKANDROLL and HALLOFFAME had to be positioned one after the other, and the gimmick didn't work as well if that pair came first, the themers had to be positioned in this order. Even with that constraint, the grid came together quite easily. YALU is a bit of an outlier, but I'm glad Will kept my cutesy clue.

In general, nearly all of these clues are my originals, which is always a satisfying feeling. I wrote this puzzle in October when I thought cluing TWEET via Trump would be a relic of the past. I guess I wish that clue had been changed, given the world we now live in. :(

Great puzzle. Finn gives us a twist in the "definitional" theme type, i.e. a single word with multiple meanings. Entertaining to think about Queen or Queens in four different ways.

Will doesn't run this theme type often, since the grid entries tend to sound forced, as if from a dictionary. Finn does well to choose themers that can stand alone — CHESSBOARD, NEW YORK CITY, RUPAULS DRAG RACE, and ROCK AND ROLL / HALL OF FAME are all great entries. Much better than PIECE IN CHESS or FEMALE MONARCH or something.

Fantastic that Finn was able to divide up ROCK AND ROLL / HALL OF FAME in the most natural place. Cross-referenced answers are a pet peeve of mine since they break up my solving flow, but if you have to, do it this way. If Finn had required a 7 and a 14-letter themer and needed to pair them with ROCK AND / ROLL HALL OF FAME (7/14), that would have worked, but it would have been inelegant.

I enjoyed ARROWHEAD and BRUNO MARS (I didn't know who the latter is, but I've at least heard his name in the news). I'd have loved to get one more pair of bonus entries, perhaps by shifting NEW YORK CITY to the left and then trying for a nine-letter entry where MEAT and JOAD are. I'm sure it would have caused some problems, but a guy can wish.

This might have also solved the Y??U issue — a shame to have the one odd entry in an otherwise stellar grid. I did like the attempt to save it with a clue relating to the more recognizable YALE, but "random rivers" is one of those categories most constructors try hard to avoid.

There was one other spot I hitched on: the SXSW x NSFW crossing. I (mostly) knew these — South by Southwest and not safe for work — but there's no way for someone to infer these. I likely would have asked for a revision in this corner.

But these are minor issues. Overall, I dug the spin Finn put on the "definitional" theme type. Smooth, enjoyable solve.